Many hot spring resorts these days look so similar that it's sometimes hard to remember where you are. Not Bessho Onsen.
This ancient spa in a remote Nagano valley has kept true to its origins and resisted the temptation to become just another stereotypical stretch of glitzy hotels and souvenir shops.
Bessho has the sort of character that comes with age. It calls itself the "Kamakura of Shinshu," Shinshu being the old name for Nagano. Until I went there, I had always suspected that this claim was an exaggeration.